Additional resources

• The San Diego Business Development Center in North County has counseling services and free business plan workshops. Go to its website, sandiegosmallbiz.com.

• Score also has business plan workshops, which cost from $79 to $99, as well as consulting services. Check out its offerings at score-sandiego.org.

• The Small Business Administration has a free online course on writing a business plan. For more information, go to uniontrib.com/more/sbabizplan. The SBA is a good first stop for a number of business services, so make sure to check out sba.gov/ca/sandiego.

Thinking about starting your own business? Well, then you need a plan — a business plan, that is. Intimidated by the very idea? Don’t be. Here are some pointers on how to go about crafting one:

Why do I need a plan?

A business plan is essential when starting a new business. If you are looking for a loan from a bank or seed money from investors, the first thing they will ask you for is the business plan. Even if you are launching a modest at-home business, a cohesive business plan is an important start. It’s a road map to where you want to go and a way to gauge your success going forward.

What exactly is a plan?

It’s just what it says it is: a plan for your business. Think of it as a story about how you would like to see your company grow. Typically business plans are 10 pages to 15 pages and have four basic sections:

• Executive summary. It’s the equivalent of a two-minute elevator speech and tells the reader what your company does and why it exists.

• Management information. This explains who will be doing what, providing employee qualifications if relevant.

• Marketing plan. This looks at your company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and any threats it might face as well as details on how you plan to promote the company.

• Financial projections. This gives specific projections on how much money you expect to bring in on a monthly basis, as well as your costs.

For a more detailed description of what goes into a business plan, go to score-sandiego.org and explore its business library. You need to sign up to access the information, but all the materials in the library are free.

How do I figure what to put in?

By doing research — lots and lots of research. It’s a good idea to pick three to five companies similar to your proposed business and learn everything you can about their operations.

If you need help getting realistic financial projections, you might want to check the Risk Management Association (rmahq.org/RMA). It costs money, but the organization can provide you with solid revenue estimates for a variety of businesses. That’s important because banks will quickly reject any business plan with out-of-whack financial projections.

What are some business plan mistakes to avoid?

The first, and biggest, mistake is simply not having one.

Another is being overly optimistic about revenue and underestimating costs. You also want to set a specific goal. Saying you want to create a good company won’t cut it. You need to state something along the lines of “By the end of 2011, I will have 20 customers and make $5,000 a month.”

Also, don’t pay a firm to write your business plan for you. The act of writing a plan is critical to the success of your business.